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About Elyot Grant

A former gold medalist in national competitions in both mathematics and computer science, Elyot has long refused to enjoy anything except video games. Elyot took more pride in winning the Reddit Starcraft Tournament than he did in earning the Computing Research Association's most prestigious research award in North America. Decried for wasting his talents, Elyot founded Lunarch Studios to pursue his true passion.

We’re seeking a summer intern to help us with some upcoming software development work for Prismata. Details of the position are listed below:

Position: Game Development Intern at Lunarch Studios

This full-time position is open to literally anyone with a background in programming or game development, but is ideal for a student or recent graduate of a college/university program in computer science, mathematics, software engineering, game development, or similar.

This is a remote position. You can work from everywhere in the world. Our team hangs out on Discord nearly 24/7, meets daily, and gets a lot of work done!

Ability to rapidly learn new tools/technologies and work in an unfamiliar codebase.

Passion for gaming and Prismata.

Decent comfort in using Unix, git, and command-line tools.

Ability to get a lot of shit done in a remote work environment.

Tools we use

Actionscript 3 (Adobe AIR, FlashDevelop, Starling, FlasCC)

Python (Twisted, SQLAlchemy, Boto, etc.)

Amazon Web Services (EC2, S3, databases, redis, etc.)

Cygwin, Github, Sentry, and a lot of our own analytics and build tools

Possible projects

Localization development. This is the biggest one. We’re looking to get Prismata translated into a number of languages but our codebase is not yet ready to begin the process. You’ll make it so that people can add a new language to Prismata just by editing a single file. This will be your first project; you’ll do a pass over the entire Prismata UI source code, which will help you get up to speed on how it all works.

Mobile porting. A possible project if you have experience with mobile development in Adobe AIR or publishing via google play, the iOS app store, etc..

Junior dev ops. Typically these projects are difficult for interns unless they’re already quite experienced, but if you know a lot of python and Amazon Web Services, there might be a few things you could work on.

Single player game development. We’re be working on a lot of new single player content all spring/summer and there’s lots of work to do!

Game design. Not something we particularly need help with, but all Prismata developers are invited to create new units, missions, and puzzles for the game.

Something else? We’re a small gaming studio so most of us wear many hats and dabble in many different things.

About Lunarch Studios

Our team is stacked with MIT PhD students, poker millionaires, and winners of international awards in mathematics and computer science. We’re all massive nerds, driven and hardworking (and at times furiously competitive), but united through our love of gaming. The games we develop are games we love to play. See more at lunarchstudios.com.

Questions

Q: What do I require to work remotely?Your own computer, an office where you can be free from distractions and get shit done, and a good microphone/headset. You’ll need to run fdbuild to compile the code, which requires Windows (you’ll probably need a Windows VM if you’re a Mac user). You’ll also need some kind of unix-like development environment (we all use Cygwin and can help you set it up). We do a lot of screensharing and large file transfers, so it’s absolutely imperative that you have a solid, reliable, high-bandwidth internet connection.

Q: What are the hours?This is a full-time position, but we’re extremely flexible regarding hours. Evenings, weekends, overnight, etc. are all fine. Just stay in regular contact with us and get shit done.

Q: Do I have to live in Canada or Ontario?Not at all, but please let us know if you do.

Q: How long is the internship?3 to 4 months, but we’re open to longer.

Q: When can I start?We’ll be looking at the applications and conducting interviews in early May after our chapter 2 launch is completed. After that point, you can start anytime.

Q: What’s the salary?Depends on your level of experience, but it will be a typical salary for an intern-level position at a Canadian game development studio. We can pay you in USD or CAD.

Q: Will I be an employee or an independent contractor?In most cases, the latter, but we’re open to whatever arrangement works best.

Q: Do I need to be a co-op student or anything like that?No. That said, if you are a co-op student in Ontario, please let us know. If you’re part of an undergrad or graduate program with an internship or co-op requirement, we can probably make this position work for you.

Q: Do I need to know a language other than English to help with localization?No. In particular, you won’t be asked to translate anything, except to test that your code works. Translation is a challenging task and we’ll leave it to the pros. That said, it can be useful if you are familiar with the nuances of characters sets used by other languages or if you regularly use a computer or play games in languages other than English. If you have specific experience with game localization, even better.

Q: Who will I report to?We don’t have a lot of structure at Lunarch. Elyot will onboard you and guide you through the setup process. Elyot or David will do your code reviews. You’ll work fairly independently but we’ll always be around if you have questions and we’ll do some pair-coding during the first week to help get you up to speed.

Q: Do I need to be good at Prismata?No. That’s only necessary if you want to create hard Prismata single-player content or work on unit design/balance.

Q: Can I continue on as a full-time developer after the internship ends? Can I work on future Lunarch Studios games?If you’ve proven to be an outstanding contributor during the internship, we’d be happy to have you.

Q: How do I apply?Email careers [at] lunarchstudios.com and include Summer Intern in the subject. Feel free to include:

anything else about yourself that might make us interested in you or might be relevant to the projects we’ve listed above

your Prismata username if you’re a Prismata player

dates you’re available

Q: What’s the deadline to apply?We’ll consider all applications that are received by May 1st. We might still read late applications, but we may have already filled the position by then, so try to get yours in on time.

We hope you all enjoyed our April Fools Balance Patch. (It’s fake, if you didn’t know already!)

Today, we’ll be revealing the actual balance changes going live in this week’s update. The update itself will occur early on Friday, after the current round of the Golden Cup matches have completed.

This update will also add four new units to Prismata! We’ve given previews of these new units to a few of our favourite Prismata streamers to reveal live, so keep yours eyes on Prismata live streams for the next couple of days!

Now, without further ado, here are the balance updates going live on Friday:

We’ve been promising a few Prismata balance tweaks for a while now, and it’s finally time to announce them!

These tweaks will be going live next week, alongside a few brand new Prismata units. Think of this as a mini content patch while you’re waiting for campaign Chapter 2 (which we’re currently putting the finishing touches on!)

Why issue a patch now?

It simply made the most sense to do it now. We wanted to wait until after our Steam Early Access debut before releasing a content patch containing new units, and we wanted to deploy balance tweaks at the same time as the new units, so that the community would only need to go through one single period of readjusting to changes on the ladder.

As of March 2018, Prismata has entered Steam Early Access, which is the final step in our long period of feedback-driven development. Steam Early Access will feature frequent additions of new units, interface tweaks, and a new campaign episode roughly once per month. You can read more about our Early Access mindset and the latest updates on our Steam page.

There is also the old web client at play.prismata.net which is still supported, but we highly recommend the PC/Mac versions as they don’t require any asset downloading and are much less prone to browser-specific problems.

Q: Is there Linux support?

Linux users can use the web version at play.prismata.net using Chromium and the Pepper player.

As for a Linux desktop version, unfortunately Adobe has abandoned support for Stage3D in Adobe AIR in Linux. Without this, we can’t use any GPU-accelerated graphics, which makes it impossible for us to create a Linux desktop version of any reasonable quality. Accordingly, the web version represents the best experience that is currently possible on Linux.

Note that Windows users will have to run Prismata in administrator mode for updates to work if Prismata was installed in a directory that requires administrator permissions. The game will warn you if this is the case!

Q: I’m a Kickstarter Supporter, how do I access my rewards? Can I play on Steam?

We sent Steam keys out to all of our supporters. Enter your Kickstarter email into the Humble Resender and you should see it there alongside the other rewards. If not, email support and we’ll take a look.

Q: Who created Prismata, and how did the game originate?

Prismata was the result of an experiment by a group of former MIT PhD students, who were attempting to create a new genre of strategy game by combining ideas from card games and RTS. The first prototype was created in August of 2010 and had incredibly simple rules, but its creators were blown away by its staggering, unexpected level of strategic depth. They grew addicted to Prismata’s fascinating gameplay and spent years developing the game as a hobby project. In 2013, several of Prismata’s creators dropped out of MIT to form Lunarch Studios and work full-time on the game.

A full account of the origins of Prismata by Lunarch Studios co-founder Elyot Grant can be found here.

Q: Is there a tutorial?

The first chapter of the campaign is intended to provide an overview of the game’s rules and systems. From there, the combat training challenges contain introductions to all of the unique mechanics that Prismata has to offer.

We’re working on a comprehensive player’s guide at http://prismata.net/guide/. If you would like to contribute, let us know! There are a bunch of old guides linked at bit.ly/prismata and a number of beginner-friendly resources on our wiki. See also the community resources linked in the “Learn” tab in Prismata (there’s some great content over at The Prismata Library).

Q: How much does the game cost?

During Early Access, we’re offering a $25 Founder’s edition that includes the base game, plus the entire 5-chapter single player story campaign and a few bonuses (supporter badge, skin, etc.)

Q: Will there be a free version?

Toward the end of Early Access, we plan to introduce a more affordable entry point for new players (a ‘lite’ edition with substantially less single-player content). The exact pricing, features, and timing are still to be decided, but we’re very committed to making Prismata accessible to as many people as possible.

Q: Is Prismata pay-to-win?

Absolutely not. At Lunarch Studios, we take a strong stance against the exploitative business models of other card games, where players are often forced to pay hundreds of dollars or grind for thousands of hours to build a sufficiently powerful collection of cards to compete with other players.

Q: Are there in-game purchases?

To fund Prismata’s continued expansion, we offer ethical microtransactions to help unlock cosmetic items—like equippable skins and emotes—that provide no competitive advantages. We promise to keep Prismata free from the annoyances that plague many so-called “free to play” games. Our motto is simple: No pay-to-win, no grinding, and no bullshit.

Q: When will Prismata be finished?

When we’re tired of working on it? We don’t know… we love developing this game! 😛

Q: Are you working on translating Prismata to other languages?

If Prismata is successful, we’ll certainly be looking at localization opportunities. However, we need to wait until all the campaign chapters are complete before we can send all the dialogue off to be translated. We may try crowdsourcing some small bits of translation before then (game menu text or unit infopanels), but no promises! We’ve seen other games go the crowdsourcing route with varied levels of success.

Q: What about an Android version?

We compiled one! It worked. But it was kinda slow, and there were a number of UI annoyances that we’d likely want to iron out before releasing one publicly. Adapting a game like Prismata for 100% touch-only input is a really non-trivial task. That said, if Prismata does well, we’ll certainly be considering other platform options!

You can also host your own tourney (email us if you would like Lunarch Studios to donate prizes, which we’re happy to do!)

Q: Where do I find more information?

The Prismata Wiki is an incredible resource, filled with tons of information on just about anything Prismata-related. If you can’t find what you’re looking for there, try posting a question on the Prismata subreddit or Prismata Discord server. The developers frequently respond to player questions on just about anything.

I know it’s been a while since the last blog post; we’ve been hard at working polishing off Prismata to ready the game for its launch on Steam this year.

I look forward to reviving this blog with some new content relating to some of the exciting things we’ve been working on, but I’ll also be doing a lot more video content and Q&A Livestreams as we approach the launch, since they’re a lot quicker to produce than blog articles and allow more interactivity.

For now, I leave you with the following video, which outlines some of my hopes, dreams, and worries regarding our Steam Early Access debut:

I’ll be making more of these videos in the upcoming weeks. I’m going to try recording them live on twitch with chat Q&A and see how that goes. Here’s a schedule:

Wed, January 24th: How We Decided On Steam Early Access (stream starts at 8pm EST, show at 9pm EST)

Sat, January 27th: The Prismata Community (stream starts at 1pm EST, show at 2pm EST)

Tue, January 30th: TBA (stream starts at 3pm EST, show at 4pm EST)

All videos will be posted to Youtube afterwards. Feel free to dump questions in the Youtube comments and I will try to answer them in the next video.

We’ve been doing a lot of work on sound, assets, and the campaign this week. We’re not quite ready to show that work off just yet, but see our latest dev vlog for a bit of info about our upcoming Steam Early Access launch (that vlog was even picked up by Cliqist and N4G!)

Instead, I want to discuss our plans for Prismata’s Event mode. We deployed a few changes to the mode this week, and more are coming.

The new event mode screen, complete with detailed mouseover tooltips for each event.

It’s time for another Prismata Beta Pre-Season Event, and this time, we’re doing things a little differently. Instead of running a Swiss tournament on Challonge, we’re going to be running a 3-hour time-handicapped PLANETARY MEGA BRAWL event from within Prismata itself!

Casual Match is the new Prismata mode, featuring unranked player vs player and bot play.

Casual Match was designed mainly for newer players, as well as the large cohort of players who frequently play Master Bot but don’t play much Ranked Play. The new mode offers more variety, as there are over 25 different unique bot personalities, some of whom are very tough! Wins in Casual Match mode earn you prizes. They also provide a bit of a boost if you’re trying to ascend through the early tiers of Ranked Play mode.